Face Down
by mindcrazed
Summary: Charlie is a teenage girl in high school. She's stuck in a small town with a drunk dad who treats her like crap. One day a new teachers comes to town. He's mysterious and interesting. What she doesn't know is that her life will change forever. Note that it isn't based on the Vampire Diaries, it's just the closest.


**Face down**

When I was little I always imagined my parents being together forever. But of course it didn't turn out that way. My mother left my dad for another man when I was four, and I haven't seen her since then. My father didn't react very well when she left. He became very sad and depressed, and about three years later, when I was seven he started drinking. Things got even worse every year, he lost his job when I was eleven. It was around that time he started beating me. He said that I looked like a younger version of my mother. I suppose he didn't like that very much, to see someone who reminded him of the person he loved, every day. He beats me more and more every day.

As I sat on my bed thinking I heard him trying to fit the key in the lock on our front door. It made chills run down my spine. I jumped out of bed and ran as quietly as I could in to the kitchen. I hoped with all of my heart that he would like the dinner I'd cooked for him. Because if he didn't like it I'd probably get beaten up again, and I really didn't want him to beat me. The bruises from the last time he hit me had just started to fade. It was getting really hard to hide them from my friends and the teachers at school. In the beginning he only hit me on my arms or my legs, then he started hitting my stomach and chest. Recently he started hitting my face too and I'd have to come up with really bad excuses when my friends and teachers asked me what had happened to my face. I don't think that they really believed me though. If they called the police I'd be in more trouble than I already am. I'd be lucky if I survived what he'd do to me then. If the teachers kept asking questions I'd just have to tell them that I do karate or something and that's how I get my bruises. I can't quit school, because then I wouldn't be able to graduate from high school at the same time as all of my friends and I would be stuck here with my father until the day I died. College was the only thing I had to look forward to. College was my get away, and I was doing everything I could to get into a good one as far away from here as possible.

As my father walked in to the kitchen I took a deep breath and smiled. I hated him, I really did. We ate our food together in silence and then I cleared the dishes away and put them in the dishwasher. I went up the stairs to my room slowly and hoped that he'd fall asleep early. When I got to my room I grabbed my school books and sat down on my bed to study. I must have fallen asleep cause I woke up at eight am with a paper taped to my cheek. I was going to be late for school if I didn't hurry. I jumped out of bed, threw my books into my old school bag and ran to the bathroom. While in the bathroom I peed, brushed my teeth and looked for a lip balm at the same time. I did it all in success thankfully. I hurried back to my room and put on a pair of jeans, a tank top and a sweatshirt. I pulled my dirty hair into a sloppy bun on the top of my head, grabbed my bag, a pair of socks and my Converse sneakers and ran down the stairs. I sat down on the chair in the hallway and put the socks on and then the shoes. I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror, I looked awful with no makeup and greasy hair. I grabbed my car keys from the hook they hung on and ran outside to my car. It was raining outside. No surprise there though, it rains here a lot. When I got into my car I exhaled loudly. Then I backed out of the driveway and drove to school.

Since I was late I walked as fast as I could to the classroom. It was last period and I was really tired and I just wanted to go home, I'd been kind of off all day. I was usually talking to everyone and laughing and having fun, but today I hadn't even been paying attention in class. I felt weird, but I didn't know why. I stumbled in to the classroom, luckily before the teacher had arrived. This class, history, was one of my favorite subjects and the teacher Mr. Carter was usually very nice to me since I was his best student.

I sat down at the only empty desk in the room, which was next to Liberty Staffin and Rebecca Finch. When I sat down I heard them discussing something that was clearly very important to them. They were my best friends, but I didn't care today. I just pulled my books out of my bag and started flipping through the pages. In the back of my mind I heard Liberty and Becca quit their discussion.

''Hey Charlie?'' Liberty said catching my attention. I turned toward her and Becca.

'' What?'' I asked a bit irritated.

'' Did you hear about our new teacher?'' she asked, smiling. Now I didn't understand.

'' What new teacher? What happened to Mr. Carter?'' I asked a bit shocked.

'' Don't know'' it was Becca who spoke this time. She was usually quiet but maybe I just thought so because I was used to listening to Liberty blabbing. I just accepted the answer and continued scribbling on my pad. I kept writing my name over and over again.

Isabelle Katerina Gianni

And then I wrote the name that people called me.

Charlie Gianni

I hated my name and I hated my parents for giving it to me. It was Greek and Romanian. Isabelle was just a pretty name, I think. And Katerina was Romanian after my grandmother. And the last name was of course Greek. Gianni was a tongue-twister for most Americans.

Rebecca and Liberty were still discussing something when a man came in to the classroom. He was tall, he had a pale complexion, his hair was dark brown and from where I was sitting his eyes looked pretty dark too. And he was very handsome and actually quite hot. His eyes caught mine and I felt all of my blood rise to my cheeks as he gave me a heartbreaking smile. I looked away from him. He walked over to the teachers desk and put some books down on it. That's when it hit me, he was the new teacher. The class got quiet when the thud from the books sounded.

''Hello'' he said with an accent that was almost not there. It was eastern European, maybe Russian or Romanian.

'' I'm Mr. Sadov, and I'm you're new history teacher'' he introduced himself. So I was right about him being from eastern Europe.

''I'm going to hand out a paper that you all need to sign'' he said.

'' Why?'' the smartest kid in the senior class asked, Charles Darring.

'' So that I know that you are all here, Mr. Darring'' he answered him. Charles got quiet then. The paper was passed around and I gave my signature next no my name on the list. But it said Isabelle Gianni, I would have to tell Mr. Sadov to change that. I got the impression that he was a bit carefree, that he didn't really care if the students liked him or not. But still he seemed gentle and sweet, and kind. I didn't really understand him, but I wasn't supposed to either, he was my teacher and not a classmate that I had a crush on. Half of the last period consisted of continuous blabbering about our new teacher, I think I was the only one actually working on our assignment. Even Charles Darring was talking to his friends about Mr. Sadov. I could hear them quietly talking about how rude he was for snapping at Charles like that. I thought he'd done the right thing though, Charles was always such a know-it-all and it was really annoying.

When class was over I lingered in the classroom waiting for a chance to talk to Mr. Sadov, but apparently I wasn't the only one. Danielle Carmichael was also there. I never really liked her. I heard her talking about her problems. She told him that she had some kind of problem understanding his accent and that it would be hard for her to understand what he said and would therefore not be able to complete her assignments and such. Bullshit! I thought. Damn it she's just doing it because she thinks he's hot. His accent is just almost noticeable.

'' I'll help you in any way that I can'' he said in a very strained voice. Of course he would think of her body as totally mouthwatering. Everyone did. I could tell by his voice that he wanted to screw her. Ugh! Disgusting. Danielle gave Mr. Sadov her sexy smile- which wasn't sexy at all- before she left the classroom. I walked over to him and when he looked up at me my heart stopped for a moment. He was so beautiful. It was like he wasn't even from this world. His hair was a bit messy but still nice looking and the color of it was like something I'd never seen before, it was so dark brown that it was almost black but when streaks of sun danced over his thick hair it turned into a golden shade in some places. His eyes were like emeralds, so green you could get lost in them. His lips turned into a smile that was so sexy I felt like I was going to melt. And he was tall too, I imagined that if I would kiss him I would have to stand on the tip of my toes, and then wrap my arms around his neck and he would still have to reach down to meet my lips.

''Hi, I'm Charlie'' I said. He looked trough his papers and turned back to me looking a bit confused.

'' There's no record of any ``Charlie´´ in this class'' he said.

'' That's what I wanted to talk to you about'' I smiled.

''Oh?''

'' Well, my real name is Isabelle'' I explained. He smiled at me.

'' So you're the girl with the beautiful name'' he laughed quietly.

'' If that's what you think then sure'' I sighed.

'' You don't think it's beautiful?'' he asked. Looking a bit sad but still not.

'' No, I don't, that's why people call me Charlie'' I explained.

'' I think it's from a cousin I Greece'' I told him.

'' So you're Greek?'' he smiled.

'' Half'' I sighed.

'' And what's the rest of you then?'' he smiled. I didn't know If he wanted to know just because or if he really wanted to get to know me.

'' Romanian and Scottish'' I smiled at him. That was the only part of my heritage that I was happy about, my mothers side.

'' Really?'' he asked smiling.

'' Yeah''

'' So do you speak Romanian?'' he asked me, in Romanian which surprised me a bit.

'' Yes'' I answered him in Romanian.

'' Fluently?'' he asked, in English now.

'' Yes'' I told him.

'' So how come a Greek, Romanian, Scottish person lives in America?'' he asked me, I didn't know the answer to that question though, not all of it anyway, I just knew that my father had made all the decisions for my family. I wanted nothing more than to live with my grandmother in Romania but that would never happen since my mom was no longer around. I could feel that I was about to start crying so I ran out of the classroom and out to my car. I didn't want to go home though. I wanted to see my mom more than anything. If I had to die for her to come back to us than I would. I stayed in the school parking lot for a long time, it was almost empty except for some cars that I assumed were the teachers. I was crying. It had become dark outside, I guessed that it was about five and that I should go home before my father did. I was startled when someone opened the passenger door. When the person stuck his head inside I saw that it was Mr. Sadov. I quickly wiped the tears away.

''Are you okay?'' he asked. He looked worried.

'' Yeah I'm fine'' I lied. And he probably noticed too, my voice was uneven and I couldn't breath through my nose so the words sounded weird. He climbed in to the car and sat down.

'' Do you mind?'' he smiled.

'' No of course not'' I lied. I wanted him to get away from me and just leave me alone, but somehow his presence calmed me down.

'' Are you sure you're okay?'' he asked.

'' I'm okay!'' I yelled.

'' Why do you even care?'' I asked.

'' I just do'' he said.

'' That's the worst answer I've heard in my life!''

'' You want to screw me too, is that it?'' I asked, furious now. I was nothing like Danielle! I wasn't a slut. I'd never had sex.

'' What?'' he said, shocked.

'' I saw how you looked at Danielle after class'' I said. '' And you sounded like a horny old man'' I told him.

'' I don't quite understand what you're talking about'' he said and then he muttered something along the ways of ; Stupid girl, you'll ruin everything. In Russian. I understood it though.

'' What is it that I'm going to ruin by being a stupid girl?'' I asked him in Russian. He looked shocked by my question.

'' I wasn't aware that you spoke Russian'' he said in English, **smiling**. And _that _made me confused.

'' It's not like I go around telling people I speak Russian'' I said, looking at him with a weird expression on my face, I couldn't see how I looked but the action felt weird.

'' Of course not'' he smiled.

'' Why the hell are you smiling?'' I asked, annoyed.

'' I'm not exactly sure'' he said, but it sounded more like a question to himself. He looked confused.

'' Tell me what the hell is going on, Dimitri'' I said. He looked at me.

'' How do you know my name's Dimitri?'' he asked.

'' I don't know'' I said.

'' Dimitri is my real name" he explained.

'' Your real name?'' I asked, surprised.

'' Yes. But the people in this town know me as Frederic'' he said.

'' Why?'' I asked.

'' I can't tell you that'' he smiled. Fuck you! I thought. If you were going to tell me that much then you might as well tell me everything! I'm done with all the lies!

'' Get out'' I said.

'' What?'' he asked.

'' Get out!'' I yelled. He didn't argue, he was out of the car before I could blink.

I drove home as fast as I could, and I went straight to bed. I felt exhausted from crying and yelling, and my brain felt like mash potatoes.

When I woke up the next morning I was still exhausted, but I got up and went to school anyway.

When history class came around, I stayed quiet. We got back our essays we'd written last week. Mr Sadov had graded them last night, I had no idea how he'd had time to do that though. I only got a C which made me furious. Mr Carter had told me that he thought I'd get an A on that essay. I was going to have to talk to Dimitri after class. Damn it! I really didn't want to talk to him, I just wanted to get our old teacher back. Plus, I felt something for Dimitri, I didn't know what but there was something there. I didn't understand how I knew his name either, it couldn't have been because I'd heard one of the teachers mention his name, because he told me yesterday that the people here knew him as Frederic. I'd made a choice to keep my feelings for him hidden and just talk to him as my teacher and nothing else. When class came to an end all of my fellow classmates drifted away, they went home or to soccer practice. I lingered in the classroom and when Dimitri noticed I was still there he walked over to me. He smiled.

'' Isabelle'' he said.

'' Mr Sadov, I don't agree with the grade you've given me on my essay'' I told him, straight up. He looked pleased somehow. Now I was really angry at him.

'' I didn't think you would, but I feel that I gave you the grade you deserved'' he said, looking at me.

'' Bullshit!'' I yelled. He didn't look surprised at all by my yelling, he just stood there with his sexy lips curved slightly up, into a half smile. I wanted to kiss him so badly. But why? I didn't know him, he was rude to me and to top it all, he was my teacher.

'' Why are you doing this to me?'' I asked, really upset. Where did the attraction come from? It was like a magnet was forcing me to him. He didn't answer me right away. It looked like he was going to say something rude but he didn't.

'' I don't know'' he sighed. He looked truly upset too. He lifted his hand up to stroke my cheek. When his fingers touched my face an electric current went through my body. I tried to move away from him but I could feel myself moving closer to him. I was going to kiss him if nobody stopped me. Luckily we were interrupted by a knock on the door. We stepped away from each other and I took a deep breath. The person who'd knocked appeared from behind the door, and it was, of course, Danielle Carmichael. Now I was even angrier! I could've been kissing Dimitri right now. I know that it wouldn't have been a very good idea, but I really wanted to and Danielle had just ruined it for me. Dimitri looked and me with wonder in his eyes, he looked at me in a way no one had ever looked at me before. I started walking toward the door.

'' I'll take another look at your essay'' he said to my back. I turned around to say thank you, but Danielle had already caught his full attention. I turned back toward the door and walked slowly out of the classroom and through the corridors of the school toward the parking lot. I got into my car and drove home slowly, I wasn't in a hurry.

When I got home I studied for my calculus test and worked some on my English assignment. My dad got home pretty late and he was very drunk. He came up to my room and started yelling at me because I hadn't cooked him dinner. He hit me once in the face and then he grabbed my wrist so hard that I heard it crack. He threw me down on the floor when I started screaming from the pain. He just walked away, he didn't even look sad or anything. He'd just broke his own daughters wrist but he didn't give damn. I didn't know how much time had passed but after a while my arm didn't hurt as much. But it hurt when I moved, so I took some aspirin and then I went to bed.

When I woke up the next morning I felt an excruciating pain in my wrist, it was a reminder that last night wasn't just a terrible nightmare. I held my wrist in front of me so that I could take a look at it. It had swollen during the night and it was starting to turn into a very strange bluish colour. I went to the bathroom to grab another aspirin when I heard that my dad was snoring in the other room. I didn't want to stick around long enough to be here when he woke up. So I swallowed the pill and put some new clothes on. It wasn't easy putting clothes on with a broken wrist but I figured it out. Driving was a bit trickier though. But I got there in one piece, sort of.

The school parking lot was completely empty. I hadn't stopped to look what time it was, but now I noticed that it was only seven o'clock. Which meant that I had to wait an hour before school started. I thought about driving to the hospital but then I remembered that the police would have to become involved and stuff. That would only make my father angrier. So I decided to drive down to pharmacy during lunch hour to see if I could by some heavier pain killers.

I just walked around campus for about fifty minutes until people started arriving. Walking seemed to be the only thing that helped with some of the pain.

My first class was English with Ms Dash. But when I walked into the classroom her desk was empty. I walked over to my seat next to Rebecca. Apparently Liberty was out sick today.

"Where's Ms Dash?" I asked her with a strained voice. It was hard to focus on anything other than my broken wrist.

"I don't know, maybe she's out sick as well" she said. Not really clarifying it. She couldn't know everything all the time even though she actually did most of the time. I was just about to say something when Dimitri walked inside the classroom. Why was he everywhere? In my dreams, in my thoughts, in my classes and in my car. Was there no place that I could be left alone? His eyes shot toward me at the exact moment I thought that. It was like as if he'd heard my thoughts. Strange. All though I guess that nothing about him could surprise me anymore. I could see his lips moving as he started talking to my classmates but I could focus on anything but the pain I was feeling. All of a sudden it started hurting even more and I let out a scream. Rebecca had elbowed me to get my attention. All eyes turned toward me. I got out of my seat and walked out of the classroom. I leaned against the wall outside and tried to keep myself from crying. Dimitri came out of the classroom and he looked worried.

"What's wrong?" he asked with true concern in his voice. I didn't know what to respond. I didn't even know if I was going to be able to talk. But I had to.

"It's nothing" I lied. Holding my arm close to my chest so that he couldn't touch it. I could see in his eyes that he didn't believe my lie.

"Let me see" he said. Reaching his arm out to grab mine.

"No!" I snapped at him. He took a step back and looked into my eyes. Don't look at me! I thought. I didn't want him to know what had happened. Not only would my dad hurt me even more. But it was embarrassing. I couldn't even protect myself. Before I knew it he was holding my arm very lightly. He'd moved faster than I could blink. A tear escaped my eye as he tried to take a look at my arm. I had to take off my sweater for him to be able to look at it. When I looked at it I noticed that it had gotten even worse. It was blue and red and really swollen. I couldn't even look at it without crying. Dimitri looked angry and sad. His eyes turned black with anger.

"Who did this to you?" he asked after he'd calmed himself a bit. I had to lie.

"I fell down the stairs" I said. I hoped to god that I was a good enough liar this time.

"Don't lie to me" he said, angrier now. He helped me put my sweater back on. Then he walked into the classroom, said a couple of words and then he came out with my bag in hand.

"Let's go" he said. What? Where are we going? Where is he taking me?

"We're going to the school nurse" he said. As if he'd heard what I was thinking again. I didn't want to go but I figured that there was no use in arguing with him. He smiled at that thought.

The school nurse took a quick look at my arm and decided that I should go to the hospital. Which of course I argued.

"You really should go" Dimitri said. He looked really worried about me. All of his looks made me very confused.

"I'll call your father" the nurse said. I was starting to panic then. They had no idea what he's done to me or what he would do if he found out that I'd talked to teachers and the school nurse. I looked Dimitri. I was so scared. When he saw my expression he became scared as well.

"You know. I'll take her to the hospital" Dimitri said. My saviour. Then he led me out of the examination room and toward his car. When we'd both sat down in the car he looked at me.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" he asked. I was surprised by that question.

"What?" I asked.

"Did you think that I wasn't going to figure out who did this to you?" he said. I didn't want him to know what my father had done. I didn't want anyone to know. Not only for my sake but for everyone else's. I don't know what my father was capable of doing to others.

"Just drive me to the hospital" I snapped at him, again. You can't get involved in this, I thought. He sighed and reached out to grab something from the glove compartment. He put a small vial in my good hand. I couldn't see what was inside because the glass was tinted black.

"What is this?" I asked him. He sighed yet again.

"Just drink it" he said.

I woke up in an unfamiliar bed. It was dark inside the room and I felt like I'd just had the flu. My clothes and hair were damp from sweat and I was still really tired. I got up and tried to locate the door. It wasn't easy in the darkness of the room but I managed eventually. I stepped out to a dimly lit hallway in a house I remembered from somewhere. I walked in the direction of the living room and looked around. Dimitri was standing in the kitchen cooking. I really liked the sight of him standing in a kitchen cooking dinner. He hadn't noticed me waking up but he smiled when he saw me. He walked over to me and looked into my eyes.

"How's the arm?" he asked smiling. The arm? What arm? And then I remembered that my arm had been broken a few hours ago. Now it was completely fine. I had to check to see if it was still there. It was really strange and I started to get a bit scared.

"What happened?" I asked confused.

"I gave you something to help speed the healing process" he said, not actually clarifying anything.

"Speed the healing process? My arm was broken and now it's not. That's not speeding it up" I said a bit angry now.

**I will update this story as soon as I can, this is just the beginning of the story. Hope you enjoyed it!**


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